Category Archives: Shariah

From the Quranic Concept of War. A landmark jihadi book written 40 years ago in Pakistan and still widely regarded as important by Jihadi leaders to this day:

“Let us now make an attempt to study the Quranic concept of strategy. The first step to this study is to understand the difference between total strategy, that is Jehad(sic), and military strategy. The term Jehad, so often confused with military strategy, is, in fact, the near-equivalent of total or grand strategy or policy-in-execution. Jehad entails the comprehensive direction and application of “power” while military strategy deals only with the preparation for and application of “force”. Jehad is a continuous and never-ending struggle waged on all fronts including political, economic, social, psychological, domestic, moral and spiritual to attain the object of policy. It aims at attaining the overall mission assigned to the Islamic State, and military strategy is one of the means available to it to do so. It is waged at individual as well as collective level; and at internal as well as external front.”

Page 54

Note that Jihad is an all-encompassing concept of conflict. It includes all facets of society and culture. This reflects the fact that Islamic doctrine recognizes that Islam is not a religion in the same sense as other forms of religion. Islam, according to its own doctrine, is a complete civilization, a complete way of life, that covers religious, personal, social, cultural, legal, military and political aspects.

This is one reason why shariah is completely different from all other forms of religious law on earth. Shariah covers all aspects of life. It is NOT just a set of rules for pious Muslims to follow in their religious life or when worshipping.

Moreover, shariah is the only form of religious law on earth that specifically is meant to apply to people of OTHER faiths. Canon law applies to Christians. Rabbinical law applies to Jews. Shariah applies to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The folks over at the Clarion Project have a review of a new report published by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. The report is entitled: “Struggle Over Scripture: Charting the Rift Between Islamist Extremism and Mainstream Islam.”

On the one hand, the report recognizes the close affiliation between the ideas of the Islamic State and other violent Jihadists and the Muslim Brotherhood, which some describe as “Islamist” in that it promotes an Islamic political agenda.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the report refuses to recognize the “elephant in the room,” namely why the Islamic State and the Muslim Brotherhood are so closely aligned.

“The evidence now shows that there is considerable ideological overlap in how Islamic scripture is used by Islamists, like the Muslim Brotherhood, and violent jihadists, such as ISIS and Al Qaeda,” said Dr Emman El-Badawy, head of research at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

Clarion adds the following commentary:

The findings of the study about the close ideological connection between jihadists and the Muslim Brotherhood were borne out historically as well as noted in current events.

In the recently released CIA documents seized during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, papers show bin Laden’s ideology from the beginning was affiliated with the Brotherhood.

“I was committed to the Muslim Brotherhood, despite their limited curriculum,” bin Laden said in hand-written notes. “I was religious from a young age…There was no one guiding me like the Brotherhood was. It was just natural instinct.”

In a recent appearance, Palestinian-Jordanian historian Husni Ayesh, a former member of Jordan’s Board of Education, said ISIS and al-Qaeda developed from the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The leader of al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen also recently said in a statement that his group has formed alliances with other Sunni jihadists in the country, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

In addition, despite Hamas’ apparent attempt to distance itself from its own terrorist past and its parent body, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian Brotherhood insists the two are still connected.

The report notes that claims by groups such as the Islamic State and Al Qaeda to have theological backing for their violence are going unchallenged by mainstream Islamic scholars.

Now we get to the crux of the matter.

First of all, let’s point out that the term “Islamist” is basically flawed redundancy because mainstream Islamic doctrine has no recognition of secular government or politics. It has always been assumed in Islamic history that the government must govern by Allah’s law.

We don’t object strenuously to the use of this term though because we do not believe it covers up anything and mainly because the Ayatollah Khomeini, certainly one of the most infamous Islamic leaders of all time on at least one occasion referred to himself as an “Islamist.” At TTB we don’t believe in making up terms to describe the enemy, but if the enemy uses a term himself, then we see no problem in its usage.

There is a reason why the Muslim Brotherhood’s philosophy is so close to that of the Islamic State and Al Qaeda and it has been known for decades to those paying attention: they all base their activities on Islamic doctrine.

It is mainstream Islamic doctrine that all Muslims must strive for the formation of the caliphate so that Allah’s religion is supreme over all other religions and so that Allah’s law rules over all (Allah’s law being shariah).This is not Jihadist ideology. It is not Islamist philosophy. It is mainstream Islamic doctrine, which forms the foundation for ideologies and philosophies. (More on the relationship between Islamic doctrine and Jihadist ideology in an upcoming article soon.)

The Islamic State, Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood are all fighting and working toward establishing a caliphate ruled by shariah. That is why they seem so similar in philosophy–they have the same doctrine and goal.

This is not new, though we welcome the Tony Blair Institute in recognizing it.

Now, this brings us to the question of why these groups’ justification for their actions are going “unchallenged by mainstream Islamic scholars.”

The reason is simple once again. No Islamic scholar can challenge their goals because their stated goals of establishing a caliphate and establishing rule by shariah is mainstream Islamic doctrine.

There is no disagreement. There may be disagreement on methodology from time to time but the doctrine is clear. And make no mistake, organizations like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State base all their actions with copious quotation and interpretation of Islamic scripture, either the Quran or the just as important Sunnah of Mohammed.

The Sunnah of Mohammed is the doctrine that the Prophet Mohammed was considered the perfect example for all Muslims to follow and all Muslims should do their best to emulate him in every way. The Sunnah of Mohammed comes from the Hadith (stories and sayings about his life) and the Sira, which is his biography.

Believe it or not, from a practical standpoint, the Sunnah of Mohammed is more important than even the Quran because there is simply not enough information in the Quran to learn to be a pious, devout Muslim. But the Quran does command Muslims to do as Mohammed did, so they go to the Hadith and the Sira to find out what to do.

Mohammed waged violent jihad–often. Mohammed killed Jews–on a mass scale. Mohammed married a 6 year old girl. Mohammed had multiple wives. Mohammed owned many slaves, including concumbines–Christian sex slaves. All of this is part of Islamic doctrine because Mohammed did it and no one is authorized to change that.

You won’t hear a mainstream Islamic scholar criticize anything Mohammed did. To do so would amount to apostasy, for which he can be put to death.

This week, pop singer Ariana Grande vowed to return to Manchester in the wake of the deadly Jihadist attack that killed 22 innocent victims, many of them teen age girls.

Grande posted a letter on Twitter with a message to her fans. While the letter may have been heartfelt, its message demonstrates how so many among us are clueless as to the threat from Islamic jihad. Here are some quotes from the letter, with our commentary after each quote.

“We will never be able to understand why events like this take place…”

Actually, it isn’t difficult to understand at all. Jihadists routinely justify their actions with Islamic scripture. As Bill Warner, PhD of the Center for the Study of Political Islam pointed out not long after the Manchester attack, there is a particular passage from Islamic doctrine that Jihadists use to justify killing civilians, especially women and children. It comes from the foremost Hadith authority in Islam, Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Hadith 256 (the Hadith are sayings, stories and traditions from the life of the Prophet Mohammed):

The Prophet… was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, “They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans).

In this command, Mohammad established that it is permissible to kill non-combatants in the process of killing a perceived enemy. This has repeatedly provided justification for many Islamic terror attacks.

We may find this hard to accept, but we certainly must come to terms with it and understand what motivates Jihadists.

“We won’t let this divide us. We won’t let hate win.”

This is certainly an admirable sentiment. It’s also symptomatic of a misunderstanding of the nature of our enemy in this war.

In the terrorism of the 1970s and 1980s, carried out by political groups such as the Red Brigades, the Weather Underground, the Baader-Meinhoff gang, the Japanese Red Army, the Irish Republican Army and even the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, there was a mantra: “Kill 10 to scare 10 million.”

The terror attacks of that era had a different aim and a different nature. They were literally meant to terrorize. Each of the groups named above had a specific goal in mind. They were evil and demented to be sure, but they weren’t looking to subjugate the entire world. So, the proper response in those days was to “not let them win” by changing our way of life. The terrorists of the 70s and 80s lived to terrorize, so by not acting scared, we could deny them victory.

Islamic jihad is completely different. It is not meant merely to terrorize us. It is meant to ultimately subjugate us to Islamic rule under a caliphate operated according to the Sharia. Every Jihadist organization has this as its identical goal: the formation of an Islamic State ruled by Sharia.

They don’t just want to scare us. They want to kill enough of us and surround us with enough of them, to achieve victory over us. They aren’t looking just for publicity to spread terror. They want to kill enough of us to make us quit fighting, not just to make us frightened.

This is true apocalyptic terrorism and it represents an existential threat to Western civilization. If you don’t believe that, I suggest you take a much closer look at conditions in Western Europe today and then think back to how life was just 30 years ago in Western Europe. It’s not the same place. Not even close. What will Western Europe look like 30 years from now?

And they couple their military campaign of violent Jihad with a political, cultural, economic and legal campaign of civilizational Jihad. This is a vital point to understand. So, when we say we won’t let “hate” win, we are wide of the mark. This isn’t about mere hate. The enemy loves what they are doing. It is their devotion to their love of Allah and the prophet Mohammed that drives them. We can certainly consider it hate, but that doesn’t bring us to a better understanding of the enemy.

“Hate” isn’t trying to win. Islamic jihadists like the Abedi family are trying to win. Instead of saying “we won’t let hate win,” Grande would have been much more helpful and correct if she had said, “we won’t let the Jihadis win.”

We can’t be sure of what Grande means when she says, “We won’t let this divide us.”

Divide who? The victims themselves? The victims from the perpetrators? The host society from the alien culture that has invaded, chosen not to assimilate and become an incubator for an internal, existential, deadly threat in the form of Islamic jihad?

I’d say the enemy has already drawn the dividing line. How can that not be completely obvious already? How many deadly attacks do we have to endure before our pop culture-dominated society in the West wakes up to reality?

“Our response to this violence must be to come closer together, to help each other, to love more, to sing louder, and to live more kindly and generously than we did before.”

Again, these are certainly admirable sentiments that shouldn’t ever be opposed. We should all endeavor to live our lives this way. In the Judeo-Christian West, these are the kinds of values that we have been taught and must always strive to achieve.

But they cannot be our only response to “this violence.” The enemy is on a mission. There is a reason why he chose to attack a music concert attended largely by young girls. The enemy wanted to show us that there are no lengths to which he won’t go to fight and kill us. He wanted to show us that we are powerless to defend our most innocent and precious. They attacked that concert because they have disdain for us. It was a form of lethal ridicule. They want us to continue to hold and attend such concerts. And we can be sure they will seek to attack those events.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t hold concerts and celebrations. But those concerts and celebrations do not represent, even in a small way, defiance in the face of evil. More concerts will not phase the Jihadists in the slightest.

No, we need a real response to these attacks–and it starts with the realization that we are in a war, a war that most of us in the West deny even exists.

So, by all means let’s love and sing and come closer together, but let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that is the path to victory over the dark forces of Jihad spread now around the globe. Moreover, make no mistake: victory is essential in this fight, even if victory just means denying victory to the Jihadists.

“Music is something that everyone on Earth can share. Music is meant to heal us, to bring us together, to make us happy.”

All this is well and good, but excuse me if I point out that our Jihadist enemies don’t feel the same way about music, particularly Western music (and by Western I don’t mean Marty Robbins ballads). This presents us with a teaching moment. In areas where the Jihadists have achieved their goal of forming an Islamic state, it is customary that music and art are often banished. We saw that when the Ayatollahs seized power in Iran. We saw that when the Taliban took control for a brief time in Afghanistan. When the Islamic State seized significant territory in Iraq and Syria, music and forms of artistic expression were banned and destroyed.

As a female, try driving a car down the street in Saudi Arabia with the windows rolled down with your stereo blaring the latest Ariana Grande tune.

Music doesn’t heal our enemy. It doesn’t bring him closer to us and it doesn’t make him happy. We need to start to understand a mindset, ideology and religious doctrine that is as alien to us in the West as anything from another solar system. Especially since that mindset, ideology and doctrine have as a goal subjecting us, or else…

“We will continue in honor of the ones we lost, their loved ones, my fans and all affected by this tragedy” (Emphasis added)

The attack on the concert goers in Manchester was NOT a “tragedy.” To say so is to dishonor the memory of those lost. A tragedy is an unavoidable event, such as an act of nature or an accident. A tragedy is a tornado or earthquake or tsunami. A tragedy is when a truck driver has a heart attack and careens into oncoming traffic, resulting in death and destruction.

A tragedy is not when a Jihadi steals a truck and purposely runs down innocent victims at a celebration or market.

And what happened in Manchester was not a tragedy.

It was an atrocity. It was an act of war. We better come to terms as a society with the fact that we are at war and, as people, demand that our leaders recognize that fact. We need to quit waiting on our so-called leaders to come around to the reality that we already know. We are at war. The enemy knows it and has about a 20-year head start on us.

Statements like this one from Ariana Grande aren’t helpful toward that end.

Linked below is a video from Bloomberg News about the expanding global threat from the Islamic State.

While the video acknowledges that attacks attributed to supporters of the Islamic State or Islamic State Jihadis themselves have accelerated and expanded around the world, it totally ignores Islamic doctrine in drawing a conclusion based upon the spin of the Obama administration.

That spin, echoed by the video, maintains that the reason the Islamic State is carrying out attacks in places like San Bernardino, California and Paris is because the Islamic State is losing in Iraq and Syria. So, the absurd narrative goes, the more attacks around the world that occur, the closer we are to victory.

This is but the latest miscalculation from the Obama administration in failing to deal with the threat of the Islamic State since June 2014 and we hear it all the time from Obama’s hapless Secretary of State, John Kerry.

Numerous and frequent attacks in the West are far from a sign of weakness. They aren’t being carried out because the Islamic State is on the cusp of defeat. These are not acts of desperation.

What the attacks in places like Nice, Stuttgart and Orlando reflect is the growing and expanding influence of the Islamic State caliphate. Individual Muslims are rising up and committing acts of Jihad in the name of the Islamic State and in response to calls from the Islamic State.

Before the caliphate was declared in June of 2014, such calls for Jihad went mostly ignored. Osama Bin Laden, for all his notoriety and fame in the Islamic world in the wake of 9/11, was not able to inspire Muslims to rise up and commit acts of Jihad.

Today, the once obscure Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has proclaimed himself the caliph and in so doing has, by Islamic law, been able to inspire individual Muslims to commit horrible acts of violent Jihad.

It has nothing to do with what is going on in Iraq and Syria. They mean to bring the war to us and they are doing so. That is not a sign of defeat and no matter how much Obama, Kerry and Bloomberg News try to spin current events, the truth shows up in the form of another Jihadi attack somewhere in the West every 3 days or so–an unprecedented pace.

America is at war and we continue to be prevented from identifying and understanding our enemies as a result of influence operations targeting our bureaucratized counterterrorism apparatus.

The latest evidence of this long-standing and, unfortunately, very effective influence campaign comes from the revelation that the “Countering Violent Extremism Subcommittee” of the Homeland Security Advisory Council to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a recommendation that urges rejecting use of Islamic terms such as “jihad” and “shariah” in communications about the threats that we face….

But the effort to suppress even mere mention of the word “shariah” is actually much more damaging than the suppression of the word “jihad.” That’s because shariah is THE enemy threat doctrine.

To understand our enemies, their motivations, their intentions and their strategy, one must study shariah. Shariah is everything to the jihadists. It is the code that they follow and its full implementation is their goal.

Forbidding the use of the term shariah, much less suppressing study of shariah in the present conflict is the equivalent of forbidding intelligence agencies from studying Mein Kampf in World War II or the works and words of Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao during the Cold War.

Anyone who would recommend that we avoid studying and talking about shariah simply must have a nefarious purpose.

By way of review, shariah is Islamic law. The terms shariah and Islamic law are completely interchangeable; they refer to exactly the same thing. Shariah is an immutable theo-political-legal-military code derived from the Islamic doctrinal trilogy, made up of the Quran, the Sirah (the biography of the prophet Mohammed) and the Hadith (traditions, sayings and stories compiled about the life of Mohammed).

Every single Jihadist terrorist group in the world–without exception–has as its stated goal the imposition of shariah: the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, HAMAS, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, Lashkar e Taiba, Abu Sayyef, Jemaah Islamiyah, Boko Haram, the Taliban, Al Shabaab–all of them.

So, while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will be carefully avoiding the use of the term shariah, our enemies have been using it quite commonly, frequently and prominently, as if to illustrate the absurdity of the DHS recommendation.

What follows is a compilation of quotes from jihadi leaders and Al Qaeda and Islamic State documents that reveal the central importance of shariah to their movement. This is why Americans must familiarize themselves with shariah.

SHARIAH ACCORDING TO THE JIHADISTS THEMSELVES

• The sharia has forbidden us from taking infidels as confidants, inducting them into our secrets.
• The sharia forbids us from appointing infidels to important posts.
• The sharia forbids us from adopting or praising the beliefs and views of the infidels.
• The sharia forbids us from assisting infidels against Muslims; even the one who is coerced has o excuse to fight under the banner of infidels.
• The sharia commands us to battle infidels—both original infidels and apostates, as well as hypocrites. As for waging jihad against the infidels who have usurped the lands of Islam, this is a duty considered second only to faith, by ulemaic consensus.
• The sharia does not accept the excuses made by hypocrites—that they befriend the infidels because they fear the vicissitudes of time.
• We are duty-bound by the sharia to help Muslims overcome the infidels.

Democracy is based on the principle of the power of creatures over other creatures, and rejects the principle of God’s absolute power over all creatures; it is also based on the idea the men’s desires, whatever they may be, replace God absolutely, and on the refusal to obey God’s law. In Islam, when there is a disagreement or a difference of opinion, one refers to God, his Prophet, and the commands of sharia.

Ayman al-Zawahiri
Al Qaeda leader

Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah

From the point of view of ideology and sharia, we are required to establish God’s rule over any part of this earth, regardless of particularities and details. This can only happen, however, if the nation adopts this ideology and safeguards it.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
Leader of Hezbollah

The laws of the shari’a embrace a diverse body of laws and regulations, which amounts to a complete social system. In this system of laws, all the needs of man have been met: his dealings with his neighbors, fellow citizens, and clan, as well as children and relatives; the concerns of private and material life; regulations concerning war and peace and intercourse with other nations; penal and commercial law; and regulations pertaining to trade and agriculture.

Reason also dictates that we establish a government in order to be able to ward off aggression and to defend the honor of the Muslims in case of attack. The shari’a, for its part, instructs us to be constantly ready to defend ourselves against those who wish to attack us.

It will be the duty of the Muslims to engage in an armed jihad against the ruling group in order to make the policies ruling society and the norms of government conform to the principles and ordinances of Islam.

Regarding which shared understandings, exactly, is it possible that we agree with the immoral West?… What commonalities, if our foundations contradict, rendering useless the shared extremities—if they even exist? For practically everything valued by the immoral West is condemned under sharia law. As for this atmosphere of shared understandings, what evidence is there for Muslims to strive for this? What did the Prophet, the Companions after him, and the righteous forebears do? Did they wage jihad against infidels, attacking them all over earth, in order to place them under the suzerainty of Islam in great humility and submission? Or did they send messages to discover “shared understandings” between themselves and the infidels in order that they may reach an understanding whereby universal peace, security, and natural relations would spread—in such a satanic manner as this? The sharia provides a true and just path, securing Muslims, and providing peace to the world.

… Offensive Jihadis (are) an established and basic tenet of this religion. It is a religious duty rejected only by the most deluded. So how can they call off this religious obligation [Offensive Jihad], while imploring the West to understandings and talks “under the umbrella of justice, morality, and rights”? The essence of all this comes from right inside the halls of the United Nations, instead of the Divine foundations that are built upon hating the infidels, repudiating them with tongue and teeth till they embrace Islam or pay the jizya [tribute] with willing submission and humility… Muslims, and especially the learned among them, should spread sharia law to the world—that and nothing else. Not laws under the “umbrella of justice, morality, and rights” as understood by the masses. No, the sharia of Islam is the foundation.

They say that our sharia does not impose our particular beliefs upon others; this is a false assertion. For it is, in fact , part of our religion to impose our particular beliefs upon others.

Thus whoever refuses the principle of terror[ism] against the enemy also refuses the commandment of Allah the Exalted, the Most High, and His sharia.

Osama Bin Laden

Succession, establishment, and safety – a promise from Allah reserved for the Muslims…is not simply kingship, subjugation, dominance, and rule. Rather, succession is to utilize all that for the purpose of compelling the people to do what the Sharia (Allah’s law) requires of them concerning their interests in the hereafter and worldly life, which can only be achieved by carrying out the command of Allah, establishing His religion, and referring to His law for judgment.

“This is the Promise of Allah”
Islamic State Al Hayat Media Center
2014

…terrorism is to disbelieve in those slogans and to believe in Allah. Terrorism is to refer to Allah’s law for judgment. Terrorism is to worship Allah as He ordered you.

“A Message to Mujahidin and the Muslim Ummah in the Month of Ramadan”
Islamic State Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

So seek shelter – after Allah – with the Islamic State. What do you wait for after the truth has become clearer than the day and after the spiteful Rāfidah exposed their reality? Here they are today slaughtering everyone considered from Ahlus-Sunnah in Baghdad and elsewhere. No one was saved from them, even their allies, supporters, aids, tails, and dogs from the apostates who had once belonged to Ahlus-Sunnah, those in the Sahwah, army, police, and elsewhere, those whom the evil scholars confused into fleeing the implementation of Allah’s law in the territory of the Islamic State. So they became homeless, humiliated, fearful, and worrisome of the Rāfidah’s cruelty, whereas the Muslims live in the territory of the Islamic State with might and honor, secure by Allah’s bounty alone, with a life of comfort, going about the affairs of their business, livelihood, and trade, enjoying the grace of living under the rule of their Lord’s law, and all praise and grace is Allah’s. Therefore, O Muslims, seek shelter – after Allah – with the Islamic State.

Islamic State Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Speech recorded on 14 May 2015

Indeed, every Muslim is intended by this war. And he is obliged to defend the religion of Allah and His Sharī‟ah…There is no good in living if we do not live under the rule of Allah and in the shade of His Sharī‟ah. And how sweet a death it is to die while supporting Allah‟s religion and defending His Sharī‟ah and His rule.

The religion of Allah, the Exalted, will not be implemented, and this goal cannot be achieved, for which Allah created us, except by the implementation of the Sharia of Allah, and appealing to him, and the application of Islamic law. This can only be achieved by force and power.

Islamic State Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Sermon delivered July 2014

The death of a single Muslim, no matter his role in society, is more grave to the believer than the massacre of every kāfir on earth. And while the Sharī’ah calls for the invasion of all kāfir lands, certainly the aggressors are dealt with before those nations not actively waging war against the Khilāfah. This is an obvious reality. Any disbeliever standing in the way of the Islamic State will be killed, without pity or remorse, until governance is entirely for Allah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 14

Democracy is a religion that gives supreme authority to people rather than Allah In it, the right to legislate is distributed amongst mankind so that they thereby determine what laws are to be ruled by in the lands. If the majority decide sodomy is legal, it is legalized even though it contradicts Allah’s Sharī’ah. And if the majority decide to illegalize sodomy, it is made illegal, not because it is Allah’s legislation, but because supreme power is that of mankind, above and beyond the authority of Allah! How wicked a religion is one where all its members consider themselves “gods” besides Allah!

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 14

Jihad in this era is an obligation upon each and every Muslim as numerous
lands of the Muslims have been usurped by the kufār and numerous parties of apostasy have arisen therein. Until all these lands are retaken, cleansed of apostates, and ruled by the Sharī’ah, the obligation does not drop.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 14

We clarify to all that the Islamic State’s position is clear concerning the ruling on these factions, and it is that they are groups that have apostatized from the religion of Allah and have committed numerous deeds that have nullified the fundamentals of the religion. From amongst these deeds is that they fight a state that rules by the Sharī’ah of Allah while these factions are in one trench and one coalition with other factions that have resisted the implementation of the Shari’ah and declared their efforts to build a ‘democratic, civil, pluralistic’ state that removes the law of Allah from the lands of the Islamic State and replaces it with jāhilī laws. All this is done with support and direct air cover from the American-led crusader coalition that only strives to destroy the mission of the Khilāfah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 13

So adhere to and be diligent in obedience and don’t get tired. Listen both in times of dislike and delight, Unless the leader’s order is against the Sharī’ah, for there is no obedience to the leader in such.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 12

We likewise renew our call to the soldiers of the factions in Shām and Libya. We call on them to think long before embarking to ght the Islamic State, which rules by that which Allah revealed. Remember, O you afflicted by fitnah, before embarking to fight the Islamic State, that there is no place on the face of the Earth where the Sharī’ah of Allah is implemented and the rule is entirely for Allah except for the lands of the Islamic State. Remember that if you were able to capture one hand span, one village, or one city from it, the law of Allah in that area would be replaced with the laws of men. Then ask yourself, ‘What is the ruling on someone who replaces or is a cause for the replacement of the law of Allah with the law of man?’ Yes, you commit kufr by such. So beware, for by fighting the Islamic State you fall into kufr whether you realize it or not.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 12

Then the Sharī’ah of Islam came and deemed a specific number of wives that no Muslim is allowed to exceed, that number being four. As for concubines, then there is no limit.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 12

And isn’t polygamy a part of this Sharī’ah? Know then that the One who has honored the Muslim woman and has given her rights that protect her from the plots of the wicked is the very One who has permitted for the man to marry those that please him of women. And based on that, it is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to argue concerning the Sharī’ah of Allah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 12

…the Islamic State will continue to strike Russia until Sharī’ah returns to all the lands of the Muslims usurped by the crusader Russians and until Russia pays the jizyah in humiliation.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 12

…we reassure the Muslims in the eastern and western extents of the Earth that Libya will not be ruled except by Allah’s Sharī’ah and that the Islamic State by Allah’s grace will pave its way quickly towards consolidation and expansion.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 11

…apostate forces wage war against Allah’s religion by abandoning the Sharī’ah laws and replacing them with manmade laws in addition to waging war against the people… dragging them to prisons, and handing them over to the crusaders. Due to their war against Allah’s religion…the Islamic State rose to repel their attacks against the Muslims and to implement the Sharī’ah, spread justice, and save the prisoners from harm.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 11

The call to defend the Islamic State – the only state ruling by Allah’s Sharī’ah today – continues to be answered by sincere Muslims and mujāhidīn around the world prepared to sacrifice their lives and everything dear to them to raise high the word of Allah and trample democracy and nationalism…Thus we renew our call to the sincere Muslims around the world to march forth and wage war against the crusaders and apostates who seek to wipe out the Sharī’ah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

We call all sides to reason, prioritize the general good, and adopt the principles of our Sharī’ah and great revolution in word and deed…

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

…it is obligatory to appoint a single imām and khalīfah for the Ummah who will govern the people in accordance with Allah’s religion and make them follow the laws of the Sharī’ah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

We are fighting for the cause of Allah and will establish His Sharī’ah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

…there is no place on the face of the Earth where the Sharī’ah of Allah is implemented and the rule is entirely for Allah except for the lands of the Islamic State.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

…the only thing that prevents one from being fought and killed is to rule by the Sharī’ah, adhere to its laws, and disassociate oneself from those who forcefully resist the Sharī’ah and its laws.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

So detonate your explosive belt in their midst. Shoot their soldiers in the chest. Dissuade whoever you can from fighting those who rule by the Sharī’ah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

They fight us under the name of Democracy, they wage war at the very core of our Islamic culture and identity, they consider everything contradicting Democracy as radical and fundamental. It is of course impossible for them to just allow us to rule by Shariah. Therefore, the eventual result is that fighting will continue until we remove this oppressive and dominant plague, America, upon the Muslims.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 15

May the blessings of Allāh be upon you, as you abide to the Shariah of your Lord in your jihãd and actions. May the blessings of Allāh be upon you, as you strive earnestly and as you wage your jihãd and strike the enemies of Allāh and your enemies. May Allāh accept our heroes the knights of Azawad and grant them Jannatul-Firdaus, join us with them while we are steadfast upon this path. And may He make their blood water the tree of Islam and spread the Laws of Allāh on earth.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 15

We will fight tirelessly and we will keep sacrificing upon this path until the word of Allah is the highest and the Islamic Shari’a be our laws in life. We will not deviate from it nor accept anything else to replace it.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 15

They are the lions of this Al Qaeda. They are the guardians of Shariah.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 15

One must know that Allah rewards for His obedience and punishes for His disobedience. Secondly – What is intended in knowing Allah; it is the knowledge of the shariah rulings.”

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 15

And it is evident enough that (the Western people) participate in this war by electing their governments, paying taxes that fund their governments in its aggression towards Muslims, and helping the Zionist oppressors in Palestine. Their silence or participation in crimes and aggression towards Muslims living in their countries; imprisonment, persecution, house arrests and the vicious immoral media campaign in defaming the prophet and the Sharia.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 14

It is the ruling in the Islamic principles that he who denies or rejects a definite law, and he who does contrary to it rebelliously, stubbornly, by legitimizing or disdaining it, is a kafir (who has disbelieved) in Allah and the pure Shari’ah, which Allah the Exalted has chosen for His Slaves.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 14

Stand, revenge on America the enemy of Islam and Muslims. Remind us of the glories of Nairobi, Dar-es-salam, Aden, New York, Washington, Fort Hood, Benghazi and Boston. Defend your religion, Ummah and honors from America and the crusaders, by hitting their interests in our countries and theirs. The war with the crusaders and Jews is global; it does not acknowledge boundaries and there are no restrictions except those brought by the just Shari’ah or those advantegeous to Islam and Muslims as seen by the trusted Ummah scholars and Mujahideen leaders.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 12

What is it that detaches you from the rest of the Ummah!? We have to struggle to establish the Shari’ah of Allāh. It’s not something that you get for free, or just by praying the 5 prayers and make du’aa, it is established through blood and sacrifice of everything … everything!

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 12

Democracy is a contrary idea because it calls to shirk of masses’ ruling instead of worshiping Allah (swt) Alone in legislation and ruling by Sharia law.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 12

The Mujahideen – may Allāh protect them – are the raisers of the mighty flag of Tawheed, the followers of the Islamic Shari’ah, the followers of the path of our beloved Prophet, the ones uniting the Muslim Ummah.

One of the most common remarks we hear is a reflection of pessimism from many Americans who doubt that we can ever defeat an enemy whose doctrine is so deeply rooted in a religion that is followed by 1.6 billion people backed by oil wealth.

Some say that victory–if it can ever be achieved at all–won’t happen in our lifetimes. Some even say it will take hundreds of years.

But history and Islamic doctrine suggest otherwise.

The fact is, Islamic doctrine hasn’t changed in around 1,400 years. During that time, Islam has been at war with its neighbors almost constantly. ALMOST.

When the Jihadists’ victims have fought back successfully, Islam has sat dormant for long periods of times.

Think about it. In recent years, apologists for Jihad have claimed that they are only waging war against us because we occupy “their lands,” Dar-al-Islam.

But this does not add up historically. For instance, take World War II in North Africa.

Back in 1941-42, the German Afrika Korps, the British 8th Army and the U.S. 7th Army all occupied and ran roughshod over Dar-al-Islam in North Africa and nary a single Jihadist lifted a dagger in anger, much less a rifle or land mine.

Why do you suppose that is?

It was because Islam was far too weak to challenge the Germans, the British or the Americans in 1942.

Can you imagine George S. Patton’s reaction to Jihadist insurgents attacking U.S. troops in those days?

This is in fact reflected in Islamic doctrine. When Islam is too weak to successfully wage Jihad, it is actually forbidden from doing so. And the best way to make Islam too weak is to become too strong for them.

Like I said, it’s in their doctrine. They’ve codified the practice of quitting the fight when the going gets too rough long ago.

A great source for this is “A Summary of Islamic Jurisprudence” by Dr. Salih Al-Fawzan, published by Al-Maiman Publishing House in Saudi Arabia.

In the entire chapter devoted to Jihad in this book of Islamic law (Shariah), the conditions under which Jihadists stop fighting is spelled out in detail based on the Sunnah of Mohammed:

• It is permissible for the ruler to agree to a truce with the disbelievers to stop fighting for a specific period if this serves the interests of Muslims, and only when it is permissible to delay jihad due to the weakness of Muslims. The Prophet (PBUH) agreed to a peace treaty with the disbelievers at Al-Hudaybiyah Peace Treaty (sic), and made a peace treaty with the Jews in Medina. However, it is permissible for the ruler to agree to a truce with the disbelievers when Muslims are strong and able to fight.

This means two things:

1. Jihadists will quit fighting when they are losing. They will seek a truce when they are losing to keep from being defeated. If the Jihadists are strong enough to successfully wage violent Jihad, they must, by their law, do so.

2. If the Jihadists enter into negotiations for a truce, that is in fact the time to “pour it on.” When we respond with weakness to the Jihadists, we compel them to continue to wage Jihad. When we respond with strength, we have a chance to either defeat them or at least compel them to cease violent Jihad for a period of time.

I just got through reading the US National Counterterrorism Center’s “Counterterrorism Digest” for 20-26 April 2016.

I am posting this to make a point. The Digest is 18 pages long and contains information on terrorist incidents and the like from around the world.

But perhaps the Digest is more significant for what it does NOT include than for what it includes.

In 18 pages, the document has exactly 5 references to Islam. Four of those references are as part of the name of a terrorist or terrorist organization. The only reference to Islam itself comes on page 12 and it is significant:

■ “These activities will continue until implementation of Islamic system in Pakistan,” Muhammad Khurasani, TTP spokesman, said in an emailed statement.”

Note that this act of Jihad was undertaken with the specific intention of promoting an “Islamic system,” i.e. the implementation of Shariah, which is the goal of EVERY Jihadist terrorist organization in the world.

Speaking of Shariah and Jihad…

The Digest contains exactly one reference to Jihad in its entire 18 pages and that reference is as part of the name of terrorist organization. There is NO discussion in the entire document of Jihad, which is what every Islamic terrorist organization says they are waging against us.

The Digest contains NO reference whatsoever to Shariah, which is the enemy threat doctrine.

The complete absence of the discussion of Islam, Jihad or Shariah in the National Counterterrorism Center’s Counterterrorism Digest today would be the equivalent of discussing the Sandinistas, the Warsaw Pact, or the Soviet Union in 1978 without any reference to communism, Marxism or socialism.

In monitoring the TV news in the wake of the San Bernardino terrorist attack one theme we hear over and over again has to do with the question of how a young, prosperous couple with a baby girl could leave all that behind to launch a murderous attack on innocent civilians.

For the answers we need only look to Islamic doctrine.

First of all, Jihadists have stated repeatedly that they do not regard kafir civilians as “innocent.” Here it is stated in no uncertain terms by the Islamic State in a release from September 2014:

Kill the disbeliever whether he is civilian or military, for they have the same ruling. Both of them are disbelievers. Both of them are considered to be waging war (the civilian by belonging to a state waging war against the Muslims). Both of their blood and wealth is legal for you to destroy, for blood does not become illegal or legal to spill by the clothes being worn.

The greater question, of course is, how could they leave behind a baby girl and family members to perform such an act, even if they believed it was justified?

When Muslims die they don’t believe that they will go straight to paradise. They believe that they must endure the “torments of the grave” until judgment day. The “torments of the grave” are positively gruesome. Muslims believe that they will be able to feel all of the decomposition and associated effects while they are in the grave.

There ARE exceptions, however.

Those who die while waging Jihad for Allah believe that they will not have to endure the torments of the grave, but will go straight to paradise, with all of its wonderful benefits. Such people are called shahids.

Not only that–and this is the most important point–shahids also win passage for some 70 family members when they die waging Jihad for Allah.

So, Syef Farook and Tashfeen Malik believed that they were doing something great for their baby daughter and their families by waging Jihad and dying in that cause. By what they believe, they all, including the baby, have thus earned a trip to paradise without having to endure the torments of the grave.

This is Islamic doctrine and it explains the actions of the numerous Muslims who have joined the global Jihadist movement.

In the wake of the San Bernardino attack yesterday morning, we are once again witnessing the pointless debate in law enforcement circles, as well as the news media, as to whether the mass shooting was an act of “terrorism.”

This morning on Fox News, a so-called “expert” was dissecting the Justice Department’s official definition of terrorism to justify the FBI’s hesitation in classifying what is, let’s face it, another act of war.

That same “expert” claimed that this was another example of “self-radicalization” over the internet and thus was very difficult to classify.

Fighting through the nausea induced by the talking heads’ ignorance, I managed to utter the word, “Hogwash.”

We must refrain as a country from once again entering into a debate on what amounts largely to semantics about whether or not this latest massacre was an act of “terrorism.”

We need to get away from focusing on the term “terrorism.” Some folks still don’t consider the 1983 Beirut Barracks bombing by Hezbollah which killed 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers an act of terrorism because, by some widely regarded definitions, attacks on combatants under such circumstances cannot be termed “terrorism.”

The San Bernardino massacre and the 1983 attack on the Marine Barracks, though very different, were both acts of JIHAD.

The Jihadis themselves don’t refer to themselves as “terrorists.” But they most assuredly refer to themselves as “Jihadis.”

I say let them own that title. If one of them goes out on his own and shoots up a ticket counter at LAX, beheads a grandmother with a knife in Moore, Oklahoma, or shoots up a county health facility in California, those are acts of Jihad, just as 9-11 was an act of Jihad.

This was never a war on “terrorism.”

We are at war with the Jihadists. They are waging Jihad against us and that takes many forms:

•Civilizational Jihad (peaceful methods, such as political influence operations (Muslim Brotherhood fronts such as CAIR, ISNA), mass immigration, lawfare, imposing Islamic customs on the West (insisting we play by their rules)).

ALL OF THIS IS JIHAD. JIHAD IS THE KEY. WE SHOULD NOT GET WRAPPED UP IN TRYING TO CLASSIFY IT IN OUR OWN VERNACULAR. ORIENT ON THE ENEMY’S DOCTRINE AND LEARN HOW HE THINKS AND ACTS.

I’m not much on watching television, not even the news. About the only time I watch TV news these days is when there is a breaking major news story, otherwise I get my news online.

I spend even less time watching “entertainment” on television. I have never seen the series “Homeland” on Showtime. But a colleague sent me this short video this morning and I was struck by its accuracy and honesty.

This is a brief clip from the season premier of “Homeland” and it’s important, because, in the clip, a CIA operative “speaks truth to power.”

In the video, the CIA operative explains that the Jihadists’ strategy is based on centuries-old Islamic doctrine to form a Caliphate. He also questions whether or not the US has any real strategy to combat the enemy threat doctrine.

I must warn you, the clip is NOT safe for work as it contains harsh language. But if you are not offended by bad language, I urge you to take two minutes and view this.